It is such a shame when the alternative and complementary medicine industries are associated with quacks like Kevin Trudeau. That’s right, I said it…he’s a quack. Kevin Trudeau and his book, Natural Cures "They" Don’t Want you to Know About has been at the top of the New York Times best seller list for some time now, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. As an avid reader of natural health and wellness books I thought I would give Trudeau’s book a try for the sake of curiousity. I bought the book without having any prior background on Trudeau, his credentials, and without any feedback from other readers. While most might critique individual components of a book, there is nothing to critique here. His book is absolute garbage, and is nothing more than one long-winded sales pitch to sign up for his newsletter. I would comment more about Trudeau and his shortcomings but let me just provide a few fun facts about Trudeau that you might find appropriate if you ever had the misfortune to buy his book:
- Trudeau is a twice convicted felon, and has served time in a federal penetentiary for credit card fraud.
- Trudeau has been prosecuted by the FTC for producing and airing fraudulent infomercials
- Trudeau has been the subject of over 18 investigations by state attorney generals
- Trudeau is a longtime multi-level marketer and pyramid scheme scam artist
- Trudeau has no experience, knowledge, or dealings in alternative medicine (not a big suprise)
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Actually, his infomercials still run from time to time on a couple shopping networks. He’ll get his karma one day.
Comment by Alexander — November 10, 2005 @ 12:31 am
Your comments about Kevin Trudeau:
1. He makes many specific claims regarding the system and how it works. These are easily verified one way or the other. Why not pull these apart rather than call him a quack.
2. As for his past. Be careful the finger that your point. It is my understanding that most of us would have a difficult time clearing an integrity check depending on how deep the check goes. You may not have gone to jail but you probably have some dirt in your closet. Bottom line, what does this have to do with the facts. Stick to the fact; prove or disprove them.
3. The medical industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry. Do you really think this industry is going to allow unpatentable medicines and healthy living to take this all away.
4. As a professional engineer, I understand the value of professionals, including doctors, and what they have to offer society. When I was sympton free (up to 32 years of age) I too believed that natural cures and remedies were quakery. This all changed when I started having minor complaints:
1. I solved my constipation and my digestive problems by simply changing my diet. No diet ever offered to correct the problem at the source.
2. I have fibromyalgia. I can eliminate the symptons completely in 6-7 days by simply going to a simple raw food diet.
3. I have back problems. My doctor simply prescribes drugs with little benefit except numbing of pain. The chiropractor provides instant relief and helps to avoid future episodes.
In conclusion, your professional rants are not fooling people. Judging from the conversations that I have with friends and relatives, the trust and respect we have for the medical industry is at an all time low. In fact, many of us now believe that treatment by traditional doctors alone will ensure pain, suffering leading up to our death.
If there is a God, it is my sincere wish that those that deceive us the most, suffer the most. And then, are dramatically improved by natural remedies.
CB
Comment by Carmine Bello — November 20, 2005 @ 12:30 pm
Carmine,
It is possible that you may have misread something in regards to Kevin Trudeau. Let me clarify.
First, I am an advocate of all alternative therapies, and like many, am a firm believer that conventional medicine offers very little in respect chronic health maladies. Even more so, I support all those who contribute to the industry of alternative medicine, as there are certainly natural cures to the majority of chronic health problems that we may face.
However, I do NOT believe that Kevin Trudeau represents these concepts. Yes there are natural cures, and yes “they” don’t want us to know about them, but Kevin Trudeau’s loyalty is not with alternative medicine. Rather, his focus is a financial one, it always has been.
In regards to his past, we are not talking about some irrelevant run-in with the law for picking pockets when he was 18. His legal past has direct relevance to the subject at hand. Furthermore, his book is nothing more than a long-winded gripe about the medical profession, and doesn’t really contain any useful information. For those who seek natural cures, he pitches them to buy his newsletter. From his pyramid scheme fraud-ridden past, to his lousy book, he has made his money off of duping others.
My gripe is not with the message, it is with the messenger. For this I call him a quack.
Comment by Judy Phillips — November 22, 2005 @ 12:45 am
I agree that Kevin is nothing but a, “Quack”! Have you really read the book, Carmine? I thought that maybe he had something to bring to the table, and that I could share it with my clients, as I am in the health arena as well. I kept reading and reading and reading–only to find that I was at the end of the book, and the only thing that was revealed was the fact that the government was not on the side of the alternative health advocates. Wow! What a revelation. To make it worse, Kevin made it all about him. There was absolutely nothing in that book that would help someone who had a health problem. Bottom line–it didn’t take me long to figure out that Kevin Trudeau is not interested in helping anyone but himself.
Comment by Melanie — November 22, 2005 @ 4:20 pm
His website has been down for some time… I think he’s hiding.
Comment by Judy Phillips — November 22, 2005 @ 4:46 pm
Judy-
I findit ironic that you have spoken out so strongly against Kevin Trudeau, when in fact the both of you share many similar beliefs in terms of health and nutrition. Such as…..
* Eating only organic foods and produce
* The removal of silver/metallic dental fillings
* The adverse health risks associated with Teflon products
* Your views on the FDA
* The importance of proper herbal supplementation
* Health benefits of Infra-red Saunas
* Health benefits of intestinal/colon cleansing
etc. etc.
While Kevin Trudeau may be far from being an alternative medicine messiah, and his book does contain many shameless plugs for his website subscription and newsletter services - He has done something that I feel will have a positive impact on many people’s lives and a positive imact on your business in particular. That is to get people, who may otherwise have not known about homeopathic and alternative medicinal products and procedures, to seek them out. The more people seeking out these products - the greater the chance they will find your website, and buy your products - such as I have done.
You should focus more on the message, and not just the messenger.
Allan
Comment by Allan — December 27, 2005 @ 12:33 pm
Allan
You are quite right. However, Kevin Trudeau is a shrewd multi-level marketer with an extremely checkered past to say the least. He has taken the current crisis of our dismal health care system and turned it into a cash cow — not for the benefit of those afflicted, but for his own financial glory. The concepts in his book are nothing more than generic blanket statements that have been regurgitated from various sources, and could be obtained from hundreds of other reputable books if one was inclined to do so.
He says nothing of the how, the why, or anything of real value to someone who buys his book. His book may have brought “natural cures” to the forefront, but in a negative way. He provides no substance to his recommendations, no personal experience, no expertise, and simply feeds off the existing fears of the public.
Take a little trip down to Consumer Affairs and you can learn first hand what people think. People with cancer and other fatal diseases are scared to death that the medical community is going to hasten their demise and are purchasing Trudeau’s book thinking that he is going to provide the cure for what ails them. What do they find?–Nothing that anyone with half a mind couldn’t find themselves on the internet. The sad part is that they are then left feeling not only frightened, but cheated. Others are finding that their credit cards are then being erroneously charged money for his newsletter that they didn’t want in the first place.
Comment by Judy Phillips — December 28, 2005 @ 9:01 pm
Look, why don’t we just go to the website of of Gary Null. This Kevin Trudeau is generally telling the true about the FDA and the US government but not about himself.
Comment by Arthur — January 15, 2008 @ 7:51 am
Of course I thought it all sounded pretty facinating. I was excited to here what he had to say in his book and bought it. Being very interested in alternative practices and why they should be used, i gave this man my money. The book says nothing. It has alot of rambling with nothing to back it up and no information worthwhile of any kind. Not that I think his concept of the medical community and pharmacutical companies is untrue, I just didn’t intend to buy a book on his opinions. He does portray this book as an “answer” and the book doesn’t even go anywhere.
Comment by Debbie — July 7, 2008 @ 7:04 pm